Michigan

Annette Troupe shares a moment with her dog, Missy, inside her Kentwood home Thursday, Sept. 5, 2013. Troupe will be traveling to Mexico to receive gastric bypass surgery. The procedure will be much less expensive than what she would've been charged in the U.S. (Cory Morse | MLive.com)

After few days after undergoing weight-loss surgery in Mexico, Annette Troupe reports that “everything is going great.”

Troupe, a 57-year-old Kentwood woman, discussed her experience with the operation – and joked about asking for Tequila – in an email sent Sunday, Sept. 15.

She said she was moved to tears by her surgeon’s encouraging words.

“(Dr. Corvala) put both of his hands on my cheeks and said, ‘Annette, everything is perfect, and you have a new opportunity to live a healthy life. Eat healthy and follow the rules, and you will have no problems.’”

In a story last week, Troupe discussed her decision to have bariatric surgery in Mexico. Because her weight was 11 pounds short of her insurer’s eligibility requirements, she opted to pay cash for the operation at a hospital in Tijuana that caters to foreign patients.

On Wednesday, Sept. 11, she took a flight to San Diego, and then a shuttle across the border to Hospital Angeles Tijuana. Her international patient coordinator met her at the door of the hospital and stayed with her as she had lab work, a chest X-ray and an EKG, Troupe said in the email.

Her surgeon, Dr. Juan Lopez Corvala, came to her room with five surgeons who were training with him to discuss the surgery. One of the surgeons was available to her 24 hours a day, she wrote.

“I have not had even the littlest nausea,” Troupe wrote. “I had a leak test yesterday, and the bypass is working perfectly.

“The entire team was there, and I asked if I could have some Tequila put in the stuff I had to swallow. We had a good laugh, and they said because of my confident attitude, I would not have any problems.”